Luke Duke Magic
by Dukes126plus
Summary: Once upon a time, he believed in Luke Duke magic. From Gold Fever.


_Gold Fever_ was largely an action episode. The vignette comes out of one tiny moment in Cooter's garage, when the boys are trying to figure out the origin of the bad guys' limo.

* * *

"Let's try," screwdriver in hand, Luke squats down at the front of the limo. "A little Luke Duke magic, here."

Huh. Once upon a time he believed in Luke Duke magic. It was his faith in what Luke could do that gave him the endurance to stick out those long months of building the General Lee, even when he was nothing more than a few bolts. Oh and before that, his belief in Luke Duke magic got him through those dark days when the Marines had Luke, owned the right to pick him up and put him down anywhere they wanted to, including the middle of a firefight. There were fun memories of Luke Duke magic, too, like the way he could create a go-cart out of nothing more than scraps of wood (well, there must have been more parts than just that, but the wood bumping around hard under his hind end was about all Bo remembered of it).

He doesn't believe anymore. He's seen too many times how it's not magic, just persistence and flexible thinking. Luke fails twice before he succeeds, which would be a dumb way to use magic if you had it, and his cousin is not dumb.

Annoying, maybe, but not dumb. Just look at the way, the second the swindlers in the car that the Dukes are chasing down start to shoot, Luke's under the dashboard shouting at Bo to take some evasive maneuver. Not dumb, just frustratingly vague.

It's not magic either, when Luke makes Molotov cocktails out of alcohol and cotton balls. That one probably has more to do with military training than anything else. The way he lands his third homemade bomb on the fleeing suspects' car, that's close to magic, but Bo has come to recognize that it's really just athletic skill. Which is really something to see in action, hopping picket fences and sliding over cars, but it's not magic.

Luke Duke magic doesn't exist.

Except when his cousin's just standing there, hands on his hips, looking at the newly plowed fields, or maybe it's the sunset that's got his attention. Whatever Luke's looking at, it's not Bo, and that's just fine. It gives Bo a chance to study him, the way he stands with his shoulders back and his chin up, legs just far enough apart to give him a solid stance, shirt unbuttoned and hanging halfway off his shoulders to reveal that tiny soft pouch of belly between Luke's muscled abdomen and his—

It's got to be Luke Duke magic that makes Bo want him like this. He stops watching before it gets out of control, steps up and takes what he knows he can have. One arm around those shining shoulders, hip grazing against Luke's backside.

"That was some nice throwing today," he says, which is about the only true thing he expects he can say without getting shoved off.

"Nice driving," Luke compliments him back. Neither of them moves; odd how Luke's standing still and letting Bo sweat all over him. At least that's been the complaint he's gotten all those times when Luke slid out from under his arm.

"You, uh," funny how dry his mouth is. He tries swallowing a few times and musters only the tiniest bit of moisture. Spent too much time looking at the way Luke's jeans fit over the muscles in his legs, revealing how every little shift in the man's weight distorts them. "You want to do something tonight?"

"Like what?" Luke asks, turning to look up at him, eyes that never stop shocking him with just how blue they are.

"Like," he lowers his chin so it feels like they're on more equal terms. Go to the Boar's Nest, go for a drive, go ring Boss's doorbell and run, go make some moonshine… each suggestion that his brain comes up with is stupider than the last, but none is as stupid as what he does. Chin even lower now, eyes closing to escape the intensity of Luke's stare, he tilts his head to the right _(always to the right_ Luke had explained that night in the barn when they were nothing more than little boys and he taught Bo how to kiss girls, _to the right but not too far, just enough to make room for your noses, like this, make your lips soft and just a little bit open, tongue up front right behind that little gap, don't go shoving it in her mouth right away, just… like this, Bo, do it like this _– and that was Luke Duke magic right there), and kisses him.


End file.
